Drones, Waterboarding in Focus at Brennan Hearing

2/7/2013 12:33PM

The battle to confirm John Brennan as CIA chief begins today, with drones and enhanced interrogation in sharp focus. WSJ's Siobhan Gorman joins Lunch Break with a look at the toughest questions Brennan will face. Photo: AP.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... they can do a seventy thousand thirteen the law to all digital newsroom in New York today on WS J LunchBreak how much will it cost for a bouquet of six but rose this next week for Valentine's day ... and find out its size really does matter when it comes to lock up clutch Jon Bon Jovi scene of his next concert or entertaining team finds out his secret regret for the hit ... living on a prayer and a little known its ... Andy Warhol work makes it a new CEO Dave you were going to ... take a look at that as well up to the show I'm Wendy downs ... present Obama space to run this EIA facing questions and controversy heading into his confirmation hearing today Siobhan Gorman ... is in Washington DC and she joins us right now to discuss Yvonne thanks for being here ... went out for us the biggest challenges facing John Brennan ... in this hearing today and there are several of them ... yes I mean that the top two issues are probably Kennedy explaining the administration's position on ... the use of drugs for targeted killings trajectory when it comes to merit and and ... that the second major issue he said that the ... to explain has to do with his position on this EIA enhanced interrogation program ... which was in effect during the Bush administration when Mr. Brennan was in opposition to the C I ... a ... giant drill down to a J down plus a little bit more on this drone it's you and why this location of this drone based on his diplomatically so sensitive ... oh well that ends in two separate issues that first has to do with the administration's legal rationale for targeted killings or Americans and ... this is periodic Lee that any CEO I'll particular a sense the killing of at American born cleric Anwar al boppy on September thirty at two thousand eleven ... ahh and there and there and I were to challenge it and lawmakers facing questions ... pretty much consistently since then that it's become a bigger issue of late because there was a ... nice Justice Department memo earlier this week that laid out some of the administration's legal rationale which basically act of comments that it made publicly but it did bring it to the fore in advance of this hearing ... the second question that you've raised just had to do with the CAC use of a drum bass and Saudi Arabia ... on for watching it I drum campaigning and then and that's politically sensitive just because ... I'm in Saudi Arabia and military presence in Saudi Arabia was one of the ... rationale for the thought that might have used for justify killing America ... and also how will John Brennan views on the C I a now defunct interrogation program ... be under scrutiny by both Republicans and Democrats ... well I've The the main question has to do with whether or not his conviction has been consistant ... what Mr Brennan has said is that he consistently opposed the use of enhanced interrogation methods which include waterboarding but ... but other I really harsh interrogation techniques as well ha however when I reporters like like myself and others have ... sought to find colleagues of his judgment he expressed these reservations at the time we haven't been able to find any body most people say that they they don't recall embracing any on an e concerns in addition ... comedies made subsequent to that ... don't necessarily laid out a clear picture Health a heat he said things like ... I he he opposed I've that the use of this kind of methods but he also said that the use of those have been saved American lives and so he's gonna be asked assertive ... reconcile some of those types of state ... and how that the movie zero Dark ... thirty ... which obviously happy knows about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in ... awe depicts harsh interrogations played a key role in that odd ... how is that movie factored in TV on ... what I mean I think that the main way that it's really fact that it is just the timing of it and that being I'm you know at a time when all the sudden this issue became salient again I mean ... these are not new issues there certainly was a bit this EIA I had paid for our kids questions about ... for quite some time on buying it just you know what Hollywood produces that a movie about something and certainly this raises ... the specter of a little bit more and it's doing it at a time when ... Mr Brennan is is ... facing this this nomination ... our eye on thanks so much will have coverage of that hearing on WS J dot com this afternoon ...